Child of Yesterday
by Moon Faery
Summary: GrowingUp Trilogy Part 1. Sora never knew passing a note in class could cause so many problems... SoraRiku, shounen ai, bigotry, Playground Romance


Child of Yesterday  
Growing-Up Trilogy Part 1  
Pairings: Sora/Riku  
Warnings: Playground romance, bigotry, shounen-ai  
By Moon Faery  
Beta: Lyaka

Disclaimer: Not mine, etc, yadda yadda.

Summary: Sora never knew passing a note in class could cause so many problems...

A/N: I don't know what I would have done without my wonderful beta on this one. Not only did she push for a sequel, she also is solely responsible for making me write the last scene and for nit-picking this down to a single-sentence edit. I would be a much poorer author without her. Thank you!

* * *

_Do you love me? Do you want to be my friend? And if you do, well then don't be afraid to take me by the hand, if you want to.  
I think this is how love goes. Check yes or no._

Sora folded the note carefully, trying to get the creases just right. At the front of the class, Mrs. Riggs kept talking about some kind of math thing, going on and on about how the fourth grade would be hard and how they had to practice during the summer holidays. Like anyone would practice math when they could be outside catching fish or something _fun_.

The chalk clicked and screeched as the teacher wrote on the board, back to the class. He'd spent all of lunchtime recess trying to get the words just right, and he didn't want to mess them up with sloppy folding. Riku had kissed _him_, and it had been very nice and it was only right that Sora make this nice too. His stomach twisted so bad he was glad lunch was already over. It was easier to make everything just right on a full tummy. Even if he did feel like he might throw up.

The paper folded neatly into a perfect triangle. Every edge was just right, every fold sharp. Elated, Sora twisted in his seat and took aim. A practiced flick landed it in the middle of Riku's forehead. The silver-haired boy jerked out of his doze, glaring around generically. The sender's back began to ache from his positioning as Riku lazily unfolded the paper. His eyes widened as he read.

Sora turned back around in his seat so fast he heard his back pop, looking at his desk as hard as he could. His face felt so hot from blushing he thought he must look like some stupid girl.

An overpowering reek of joint cream warned him of trouble first. Everything was quiet, like in a horror movie just before everyone screamed and got covered in ketchup. From the row behind him, he heard Riku say a dirty word.

Slowly, Sora looked up.

Mrs. Riggs stood in front of his desk, ruler tapping against her palm. The two dark gray buns on either side of her head shone like metal. All her hair was pulled up so tight that it pulled back her eyebrows and made her eyes bulge like a dead fish's. They were even colored like a fish's, all dark and slimy-looking.

"No note passing in class!" she snapped, slapping the desk with the ruler. All four desk legs left the ground as Sora jumped. The girls in class giggled, enjoying his discomfort. The teacher stared down at him again, then moved towards the back of the class where Riku was trying to hide the paper. "I'll just take this too," she frowned, snatching it off the desk. Her frown got worse as she read it, lips moving silently. Riku dropped his head to the desk, cheeks almost as red as Sora's felt.

The look she turned on Sora meant one thing. He was going to die. Sora sunk down in his desk as she announced his doom.

"I'm calling your parents."

* * *

Sora didn't understand why his parents were so upset after reading the note. There was lots of shouting, and his father thumped the teacher's desk a few times. Mrs. Riggs didn't say much, and when she did it was so quietly that he couldn't hear it from the corner he'd been sent to stand in. It was just a note, but everyone was acting like he'd blown something up. 

"Who was it?" his father demanded, yelling right into Mrs. Riggs' face. His mother tried to hold him back, but she looked like she was going to cry, and it wasn't helping at all.

Mrs. Riggs stood up from her chair. Her voice rose a little, like it did when she caught someone chewing gum. "I'm afraid I can't disclose that. Your son is the one with the sickness. The other boy stands at no fault."

"Sora is not sick!" his mother cried, and Sora wanted to agree with her. He didn't even have a sniffly nose or a cough or anything. "I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding."

"Be that as it may," Mrs. Riggs said, and gave his parents something tiny, "I suggest you schedule an appointment immediately with a good psychologist. This is one we normally recommend for this problem. It's not unusual for boys to be confused at this age, and Dr. Mathis may be able to fix the problem."

His father grabbed the thing and shoved it in his pocket. "Come on, Sora. I'll be damned if I'm sending my son to a shrink. He just needs to toughen up a little." He grabbed Sora's hand and started pulling him outside. Behind them, his mother was appologizing to the teacher.

"Dad?" Sora stumbled as his father pulled him to the parking lot, tripping over his loose shoelaces. "Dad, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" His father smiled down, but there were edges to the smile that made Sora want to curl up somewhere inside. "You're just fine-- no way my boy's some pillow-biter. We're just going to go home and play some football. You like football, right?"

Grass stains and mud and as much running as he could handle were Sora's vision of paradise. "Yeah!"

"That's my boy."

"Hey! Sora!" Riku came running across the parking lot just as they got to the car. He passed Sora's mom without a wave, both hands holding something over his head like a trophy. Sora's father glared at him like he hadn't known Riku all their lives, but Sora's attention was on Riku's hands.

"My lunch box!" It was his prized racecar lunchbox, with his name on the side in marker. Sora hadn't even noticed it was gone.

Riku trotted to a stop, the lunchbox clutched to his ribs. "You left it in the lunch room. I was going to tell you after school, but... You know. Hello sir."

"Riku." Sora's father was still glaring. Sora frowned up at him for a minute, not understanding why he was upset at Riku. Sora was the one who had to stay after class.

Riku shrugged and passed over the prize. A tiny piece of paper wedged in it poked Sora's hand "I've gotta get home. Mom said something about cleaning my room."

"Bye Riku!" Sora waved until his mother arrived and started loading him into the car. Remembering all the trouble the last note made, Sora waited until the car was moving and both parents were busy talking to each other before opening his lunchbox and looking at the paper. A warm feeling started at his toes and spread all the way up to his tummy when he did. It was the best note he'd ever read, from his best friend in the whole world.

_Yes._

* * *

Sora dragged his bag behind him as he stepped off the bus the next morning. He still had grass stains on his knees from playing football with his father, and there was a bad scrape on his chin where he'd bounced off the sidewalk. His parents hadn't talked about the note thing at all, and he'd even gotten extra dessert when he'd told his mother how he'd tackled his father at the knees. 

"Hey, Sora!" Riku jumped up and down in front of the bus stop, trying to wave over the heads of bigger kids. "Sora, over here!"

"Riku!" Sora ran for his best friend, bag bumping along behind him. The other boy didn't realize what he was doing until Sora tackled him just like his father had shown him. Riku folded at the middle, making an "oomph" sound as they fell onto the grass. Sora rolled sideways, laughing.

"You goof!" Riku whined, rubbing his belly. "What was that for?"

"Dad showed me how yesterday. Isn't it cool?" Sora grinned so wide his cheeks hurt. "I can show you how at recess."

"I already know how." Riku sat up, still rubbing where Sora's shoulder had hit. "Does that mean your dad's not mad?"

"I think he's mad as Mrs. Riggs," Sora whispered. "He said she's a loony and then called her a dirty word!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

The warning bell rang in the school yard. Kids started heading toward the buildings. Sora and Riku both scrambled to their feet and started walking; neither wanted to be late after yesterday. Moving slowly, like Sora had girl-cooties, Riku reached out and grabbed his hand. When Sora looked up, his friend was watching the kindergarteners line up and his cheeks were all red.

A warm, bubbly feeling in his middle made Sora smile. He wrapped his hand more tightly around Riku's. Yesterday had been good, he decided, but today was looking like it would be even better.

_End_


End file.
